Final Four Officials

[refguy]

Originally Posted by dahoopref

Well the emails to officials working the men's tournament went out this afternoon. I personally know of 4 officials who got their emails and they are ecstatic since it will be their first to the dance.

These officials are under the age of 40, sticklers for mechanics, and constantly enforced everything that John Adams said was an "absolute." Throughout the season these officials would occasionally get some flack from the "veterans" for slowing down the game with the "two-hands on a player" or enforcing the "freedom of movement." I guess who ever was watching these officials games liked what they saw and awarded them justly.

I am extremely happy for these young officials.....and yes, they are from the West coast.

18 PAC 10 officials got invites. Very interesting skirmish in the ASU - UW game. Anybody else see it? Any opinions on how it was handled along with the intentional foul later and then the no call on the intentional contact by white #1?

[ronald]

dahoopref,

Would you mind expanding on what the absolutes were or a link to it?

Thanks, Ron

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by refguy

18 PAC 10 officials got invites. Very interesting skirmish in the ASU - UW game. Anybody else see it? Any opinions on how it was handled along with the intentional foul later and then the no call on the intentional contact by white #1?

The contact by #1 was completely incidental IMO. He and the ASU player collided because the ASU player changed his course after being intentionally fouled.

[eyezen]

Originally Posted by ronald

dahoopref,

Would you mind expanding on what the absolutes were or a link to it?

Thanks, Ron

[snipped from Final Message from 2008 can be found on eofficials.com]

4. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT When a defender illegally contacts a dribbler, causes
him to trip and lose the ball, this must be called a foul! It is one of only two absolutes we
introduced this year and while we are doing a great job on the "two hands on the
dribbler" absolute, we have a long way to go with "tripping the dribbler".

[/snipped]

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by eyezen

[snipped from Final Message from 2008 can be found on eofficials.com Final Message from 2008]

4. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT When a defender illegally contacts a dribbler, causes
him to trip and lose the ball, this must be called a foul! It is one of only two absolutes we
introduced this year and while we are doing a great job on the "two hands on the
dribbler" absolute, we have a long way to go with "tripping the dribbler".

[/snipped]

You can also find them in the pre-season videos put out by the NCAA on E-officials.com.

[ronald]

thanks.

[cloverdale]

went to web site and it looks like a great place to improve oneself...any thing you like or dislike about this site...is it worth the money?

[GoodwillRef]

Jim Burr will be back after last years paperwork snafu...take this to the bank.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by cloverdale

went to web site and it looks like a great place to improve oneself...any thing you like or dislike about this site...is it worth the money?

It's free.

[fullor30]

Originally Posted by cloverdale

went to web site and it looks like a great place to improve oneself...any thing you like or dislike about this site...is it worth the money?

How about a link? No site for E-officials.com. I tried E-official.com and a password prompt pops up. Couldn't find on google.

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by cloverdale

any thing you like or dislike about this site

Bob Knight getting to make video bulletins on traveling

[refguy]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

The contact by #1 was completely incidental IMO. He and the ASU player collided because the ASU player changed his course after being intentionally fouled.

I think this incident is a great example showing that we need to take a player's body of work into evidence to address intent. He trash talked his opponent (#12) in pregame - not addressed by the officials; he trash talked #12 again after a travel. #12 trash talked back after he scored on him, and then after the intentional foul he purposely stood in Harden's way to see if he could instigate something with the player of the year. I thing Coach Romar clearly knows what type of player he is as he rushed out onto the court and ran straight to #1 to pull him out of there. Then after this play, there was another intentional foul on UW and #1 purposefully gave an elbow to #12 after the whistle - again not addressed by the officials - he should have been tossed with his 2nd T.

Arizona State vs. Washington - Recap - March 13, 2009 - ESPN
YouTube - Venoy Overton Trippin' the Cougs

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by refguy

I think this incident is a great example showing that we need to take a player's body of work into evidence to address intent. He trash talked his opponent (#12) in pregame - not addressed by the officials; he trash talked #12 again after a travel. #12 trash talked back after he scored on him, and then after the intentional foul he purposely stood in Harden's way to see if he could instigate something with the player of the year. I thing Coach Romar clearly knows what type of player he is as he rushed out onto the court and ran straight to #1 to pull him out of there. Then after this play, there was another intentional foul on UW and #1 purposefully gave an elbow to #12 after the whistle - again not addressed by the officials - he should have been tossed with his 2nd T.

The WSU/UW highlight shows 3 plays in which WSU #10 ends up on the ground. The first was called a foul on UW and the other 2 were no-called. It could be argued that WSU #10 was flopping after incidental contact on the last 2 plays.

In the UW/ASU game after ASU #12 got intentionally foul (great call) he accidentally collided with another UW player. The 2nd UW player did not throw an elbow. Looked more like UW player contact was with his right shoulder.

[RefAHallic]

The Other Three On The Floor

In addition to the 10 players on the floor and the head coaches, the other men under the microscope are in the striped shirts. College hoops officials are never under more scrutiny than they will be for the next three weeks.

It's not just the players and coaches who are striving for Detroit.
The Minutes caught up with NCAA coordinator of officials John Adams (48) last week to see how he will be viewing the tournament and his refs' role in it.

On Friday at 5 p.m., the NCAA e-mailed the 96 officials who will be working the tournament to tell them they're in. At 5:45 p.m. Sunday, Adams got an advance copy of the bracket and began slotting in crews for individual games -- he'd already decided which crews were going to which sites. The job of matching crews to specific games is largely an effort to ensure there is no potential conflict of interest -- putting two refs who do a preponderance of SEC games on an LSU game, for instance.

On Sunday night, the tournament site managers will get on the phone and call the officials coming to their subregion, informing them whether they're working just one day or two. Adams, who wants to get some new blood moved into the elite ranks of officiating, said at least 10 rookies will get the call.

On Tuesday at 6 p.m., Adams will have a conference call with his refs. He'll go over general issues and protocol -- when it's OK to look at a monitor, when it's not, etc. And he'll remind them of the points of emphasis that have been in place all season: traveling, illegal screens, block/charge calls, etc. He'll reiterate that they should keep conversations with coaches to a minimum.

"We've spent all year getting ready for this," said Adams, who has seen 67 games in person and countless more on TV.

Then the refs go do their thing, and Adams hunkers down in Indianapolis with NCAA staffers Greg Shaheen and Tom Jernstedt in front of a bank of televisions to watch them work. In concert with tournament administrators at every site, they'll determine which refs keep working and which go home.

The on-site administrators will fill out rating cards on every ref with one of three judgments: strongly recommend to advance; recommend to advance; do not recommend to advance. Those cards will be sent to Adams.

The group will be cut from 96 to 48 to 36, and ultimately to nine for the Final Four -- three for each game. Just like the teams, they're all striving to advance.

"It's very competitive," Adams said. "They're all trying to get to Detroit."

Adams will be watching to see who handles the pressure of close games and heavy scrutiny. He knows basketball officials are subject to more second-guessing than ever.

"It's hard to keep a secret anymore," he said. "If you make a mistake, everyone sees it replayed. The media and so many people can see these games, and so many are close.

"To some people it's rarely the kid who screws up, it's the referee. It works better that way."

In many ways it's a thankless task, but it has its rewards. For nine men, the reward is a trip to the Final Four. Adams is watching to determine which nine earn it.

(To The Minutes' eye, one ref who has had another in a string of good seasons is John Cahill (49). Don't be surprised to see him working one of the games at Ford Field. Maybe even the last one.)

[dahoopref]

Word from the college referee grapevine is that a lot of "veteran" officials got assigned only one game for the first round of the tournament; in the past they used to get a 1st and 2nd round assignment.

One of the referees who got only one game was Ed Hightower.